


Consequential Losses

by PrehistoricCat



Series: Consequential Losses [1]
Category: Primeval
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Illness, Romance, gen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-13
Updated: 2013-01-22
Packaged: 2017-11-25 09:37:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/637517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrehistoricCat/pseuds/PrehistoricCat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five mysterious deaths, all seemingly unrelated until a sixth victim asks to speak to Matt Anderson.  Is he about to become the seventh victim or can the ARC team save him in time?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Time of death, 18:31.”  
   
Dr. Marie Leaver glanced at her watch to confirm the time and leaned forward to close the eyelids of the patient she had been tending to for the last three days. She took a step back to allow the nursing staff to prepare the body for the mortuary and tried to detach herself from the emotions she could feel stirring up inside.  
   
She'd become a doctor because, perhaps naively, she believed she could save lives. When she lost a patient she would feel an overwhelming sense of failure. Of course, she knew that some patients were beyond help and it was simply her job to make the remainder of their life as comfortable as possible. That was relatively easy when the patient had had a long, happy life or was someone who had suffered terribly from some terminal illness and would finally be getting some relief in death. Finding a positive in cases like today's was almost impossible. This man was barely in his thirties and had presented otherwise fit and healthy. The tattoo on his upper arm bore an insignia and motto that suggested he'd served some time in one of the armed forces, and his medical records indicated that he'd not even visited his own GP for so much as a sore throat until three weeks ago.  
   
On reflection, it was a tragedy. The patient had not responded to any of the treatments they'd tried and his condition deteriorated rapidly after being admitted to hospital. Marie thought she should have been able to save him, but she hadn't. What kind of crappy doctor was she?  
   
Now she had to face another difficult task. The longer she dwelt on it, the harder it would get so no point in putting it off. “Nurse Jones, could you find me the contact details for his next of kin?”  
   
“There's no next of kin listed as far as I can tell,” the nurse replied, handing Marie the patient's files. “But there is a young woman in the family room waiting for news. She came in with him, think she might be his girlfriend.”  
   
Marie thanked the nurse and set off to the family room to go and look for the girlfriend. She found her curled up on the sofa in the private area and put a hand on her shoulder to make her sit up. As she did, she realised that she was very obviously pregnant. As if this wasn't hard enough already, Marie now had a fatherless child on her conscience.  
   
The girlfriend was called Lucy, and after she'd informed her of her boyfriend's death as clinically and emotionlessly as possible, Marie left her in the capable hands of the resident bereavement counsellor. She was glad she didn't have to provide the shoulder to cry on because right now all she wanted was a shower and some sleep. It had been a long day and she only had five hours before she was due back on shift. Deciding it was pointless going all the way back to the flat she shared with another young doctor, she found a private room just off one of the wards and shut herself away to try and catch a couple of hours sleep and to clear her head. Tomorrow was another day and maybe there'd be a life that she could save.  
   
-o-  
   
“Need you to sign a release form for me, Dr Leaver,” Andy Price said. He worked at the hospital mortuary and only ventured up onto the wards to collect a recently deceased patient.  
   
“Release form?” Marie took the paperwork from Andy and flicked through it.  
   
“Your patient, the guy that died last night – Scott Byard. They're doing a full post mortem on him this afternoon.”  
   
Marie frowned. “Is that really necessary? His GP had been treating him for three weeks before he was admitted here, and he's been under my care for three days.”  
   
“Orders from the Department of Health apparently,” Andy sniffed. “This is the fifth death in a month with the same symptoms.”  
   
Marie looked at the files. Four other deaths, three men and one woman, in their early thirties. All had been previously healthy and presented initially with severe flu-like symptoms that gradually worsened over the period of two to three weeks until hospitalisation was needed.  
   
“I still don't understand,” Marie said. “These deaths are miles apart and there’s nothing that could possibly link them. Hardly an epidemic is it.”  
   
“Just following orders,” Andy said. “If this is some new, deadly strain of flu or meningitis then they want the scientists working on a vaccine before there are more deaths and it does become an epidemic.”  
   
Marie shook her head and signed the form, handed it back to Andy and went off to see what was waiting for her in the men's general medical ward.  
   
##  
   
Suzanne Griffiths switched on her Ipad and waited for today's edition of the 'Daily Telegraph' to download. She pulled her duvet around her and tried to focus on the screen. This flu had dragged on for almost two weeks now and she felt no better. In fact, if anything she felt worse. She'd decided that she'd go back to her doctor if she still didn't feel any better after the weekend and ask for some blood tests or something.  
   
She skimmed over various new articles trying to find something of interest. She paused on an item in the medical section because a name caught her eye. Scott Byard. She'd trained with him for some years before they'd been sent on their separate assignments and it was quite a shock to read of his untimely death. As she read on, she noted that there had been other deaths with similar circumstances. Although she didn't recognise their names, she knew exactly what and who they were. She was one of them too, and if five were already dead then she needed to try and warn the other fourteen before it was too late for them.  
   
It was easier said than done. Although the twenty soldiers had trained as one unit, they were discouraged from forming any kind of relationship with each other to make being sent on their individual assignments easier. They weren't even supposed to know each other's names, but she'd become friendly with two guys anyway. With Scott dead, she only had one other name to go on. She had to find him.  
   
Getting dressed as quickly as possible, Suzanne headed straight out of the door. She had no idea where to start her search but she knew she had to do something. It had been several days since she'd set foot outside the house and the cold, fresh air made her feel light headed. Just before she hit the pavement, she felt someone catch her and ease her slowly down onto her back. The passer-by had seen her sway and managed to stop her fall.  
   
Suzanne desperately tried to keep herself awake so that she could ask someone to find her friend and warn him. She knew that once she closed her eyes, she probably wouldn't wake up again and she would be the sixth victim of whatever this illness was.  
   
“It's OK, Miss,” a soft voice said. “There's an ambulance on the way. Is there someone I should call for you? Your husband?”  
   
“My friend,” Suzanne managed to gasp out. “Please tell my friend, Matt Anderson. He needs to know that...”  
   
And then it all went dark.  
   
##  
   
James Lester couldn't quite understand why the Minister had insisted that he should come and see this woman and not Matt himself. There'd been a heated discussion and the words 'security breach' bandied around. Matt essentially shouldn't have been known outside of the ARC or the Home Office, so the fact an unknown woman was asking for him set off all sorts of alarm bells.  
   
It had also been decided that Matt shouldn't be told about her yet, it could be a mistake or she could simply be some ex-girlfriend of his looking him up. Or she could be some crazed lunatic with malicious intent. It was too risky – although it was OK for Lester to go and meet her and put himself in potential danger.  
   
Lester stood at the side of the woman's bed, feeling incredibly awkward. He'd never seen anyone looks so ill before, and now he knew exactly what “death's door” looked like. He shuddered and then prepared himself to quiz a dying woman about how she knew Matt and why she needed to speak to him.  
   
He turned to the nurse that was checking the IV line. “Is it possible for Miss Griffiths and I to have a few moments alone?”  
   
“Of course, Mr Anderson. If you need anything, just press the alarm button at the side of bed.” She smiled and left Lester alone with Suzanne.  
   
“You're not Matt,” Suzanne said as soon as the door closed.  
   
“I'm afraid he wasn't able to come, so he sent me in his place instead.”  
   
“I don't believe you. Why should I?”  
   
Lester pulled out his wallet and showed her his Home Office ID card. Suzanne's eyes widened. “Matt got the assignment at the ARC?”  
   
Lester felt uneasy. How on earth could this woman know about the ARC unless... “You're like him, aren't you? You came from the future to try and find out who interfered with the anomalies.”  
   
“There were twenty of us,” Suzanne began, then had to stop speaking because of a fit of coughing.  
   
Lester waited patiently for her to stop and then cleared his own throat. “I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that more than just one person was sent.” He hoped she'd tell him more, but Suzanne was clearly struggling so he didn't want to push for any more than he needed. “You said you needed to speak to Matt? That there was something you needed to tell him?”  
   
“We're all dying,” she gasped. “Five already dead in the last month, and I'll be the sixth.”  
   
“I'm sure that's not...”  
   
“Read the files. It's too late to save me, but Matt and the others...” She began to cough again, clearly getting weaker by the second.  
   
“There's a cure if we get it to them early enough?”  
   
“I don't know.” Suzanne closed her eyes and Lester sensed she was slipping away.  
   
“Miss Griffiths, I need more information if I'm going to help Matt. Is this some kind of disease from the future?”  
   
“We all knew of the potential consequences of our changing the past,” she said, her voice almost a whisper. “But at the same time, the consequences of us not doing it were far worse.” She sighed and her face changed. A look of peace. Lester knew she'd passed away and he stood up and pressed the alarm button to summon the nursing staff. He watched helplessly as they tried in vain to resuscitate her, then slowly slipped away un-noticed. He had no place here now and he should let the staff do their job.  
   
He paused only to re-gather his composure and headed to the car park. Watching someone die in front of his eyes was an experience he didn't care to repeat, and yet it was in the back of his mind that this was not over. How on earth did he tell Matt that he could possibly be about to die and that they had no idea how to save him?  
   
 


	2. Chapter 2

Abby glanced over the top of her laptop screen at Matt who was sat opposite her. He'd spent most of the morning sniffing and blowing his nose, and he looked awful.

“Go home, Matt,” she said softly. “It's Saturday, you don't have to be here. I can finish up on my own.”

“I promised you that I'd help you finalise all the details before the meeting on Monday. We'll be done in a couple of hours.”

The mention of Monday sent a shiver of both fear and excitement down Abby's spine. Since the ARC had now lost the funding that Prospero had supplied previously, every penny had to be fought for. Abby and Matt had spent weeks putting together a proposal for improvements to the menagerie which would combine Abby's creature studies with Matt's own research into plant life from across all eras of time. They'd figured that they stood a better chance of getting funding if they pitched it as a joint project rather than two individual ones.

“Have you taken anything?” Matt shook his head and Abby rolled her eyes. She rummaged in her desk drawer and found a foil bubble strip of paracetamol tablets which she threw across the room at Matt. He smiled appreciatively and took the tablets with some water before turning his attention back to his computer.

The two worked solidly for the next couple of hours until they could do no more. They were as prepared as they could be and now it was simply down to the powers that held the purse strings to decide if this project could go ahead.

Abby went to find security to tell them that she and Matt were leaving and they could lock up whilst Matt shut all the computers down. They chatted as they made their way down the long corridors together. Matt said he did feel a little better since he'd taken the tablets, but Abby made him promise he'd go to a chemist on the way home to get a proper cold and flu remedy and then take himself straight to bed. If anything, Abby actually thought he looked worse. His nose was red and sore and it seemed like he was struggling to keep his eyes open. Hopefully, bed rest was all he needed and he'd be fit and well for the meeting on Monday.

As she got into her car, she hoped this wasn't the start of a flu epidemic at the ARC. Neither she or Connor could afford to be ill at the moment; there was so many things that still needed to be done before their wedding in just over two months time. That was why Connor hadn't joined her and Matt today, he was having a suit fitting in town. Just before she set off, she sent him a text message saying she'd finished and would meet him for coffee at the usual place in half an hour.

-o-

For once, Matt had actually listened to advice and went to the chemist. The pharmacist took one look at him and suggested he bought the 'max strength' remedy and told him he should rest as much as possible with warm drinks. His head hurt too much to argue and since tomorrow was Sunday he really had no excuse not to stay in bed. Besides, Abby would kill him if he wasn't well enough on Monday to turn up for the meeting.

He took his mug of hot, steaming lemon to bed with him and pulled the duvet around him. It felt heavenly and he realised that he probably shouldn't have gone in to help Abby. He hated letting people down when he'd promised them he'd do something though.

With his mobile phone switched off and his landline set to go straight to the answering machine, he closed his eyes. He could relax; Becker was the one on emergency call this weekend. It wasn't long before he drifted off into a much needed sleep.

-o-

Sometimes Abby had to pinch herself to make sure all of this wasn't a dream. Sure, Connor did annoy her at times, but generally he made huge efforts to be the perfect boyfriend. When she arrived at the coffee shop, he had already got her latte for her and in the middle of the table was a huge slice of the homemade carrot cake that they sold here. He greeted her with his usual, dimpled cheeked smile and kissed her whilst she pretended to be cross with him for buying cake.

“I have a wedding dress to fit into!” 

She couldn't be angry with him when she knew exactly why he had bought it. During their time stranded in the Cretaceous, it was the one luxury she'd let slip that she missed, and now he made a point of buying her a slice every time they ate out or stopped for coffee. It was just another of those sweet things that Connor did that made her fall totally in love with him.

“How did the fitting go?”

“Lester cancelled on me at the last minute,” Connor sniffed. “He said the Minister had called him in the early hours on official business and he had to go somewhere.”

Abby sighed. It seemed she wasn't having much luck with the men she chose to give her away. Jack had initially agreed, but then decided that six months backpacking around Europe with his mates was more appealing than being with his sister on the biggest day of her life. Lester had been delighted when she asked him to give her away instead, but now she wondered if he too would bail out on her. “Your suit's OK though?”

“Fits like a glove!” Connor grinned. “He even took the waistcoats through into the Bridal shop to make sure the colour matches the bridesmaid dresses.” He squeezed Abby's hand and waited for her to return his smile. He knew that was important to her, though he wasn't sure why it made a difference. 

Abby relaxed. This wedding was going to be the death of her. She didn't ask for much and they were keeping things simple and traditional; she just wanted things to be right. The only outfit she had no control over now was Becker's since he would be wearing full military dress uniform. Abby could almost see Jess swooning already.

The traffic on the way home was horrendous. There'd been an accident on the nearby motorway and everything was being diverted through the town centre, adding to the already busy Saturday afternoon traffic. They'd been sat on the same stretch of road for almost half an hour when Abby's mobile rang. She almost expected it to be Jess or Becker telling her they were needed at an anomaly, but the display read “Lester”. This was it, he was calling to tell her he couldn't give her away.

“I'm trying to get in contact with Matt,” Lester said. “But he's not answering either of his phones. Have either of you seen him since yesterday? Do you know if he had any plans for this weekend?”

There was something odd in Lester's voice that made Abby feel uneasy. Perhaps the reason the Minister had called him away was something to do with the funding, and Lester was going to break the bad news to Matt first and let him tell Abby. “I was with him at the ARC this morning,” she said. “I left him a couple of hours ago. He's probably switched off his phones because he's not feeling too well. I made him take some paracetamol and told him to ...”

“Matt's ill?”

Abby could hear the panic in Lester's voice. “It's nothing serious. I think he's just coming down with a cold or the flu.”

“It's far more serious than that, Abby. If he's already ill then we're really working against the clock. I'll need you and the others to meet me at his apartment block as soon as possible.” He hung up without saying goodbye, leaving Abby slightly confused.

“What's up?” Connor asked.

“I have absolutely no idea.”

-o-

By the time Abby and Connor wove through the heavy traffic, Becker, Emily and Lester were already outside Matt's block and were waiting for them. Apparently Matt was still not answering his phones and they'd also tried the intercom several times. Lester looked extremely agitated.

“I do have a key,” Emily was saying. “But I don't carry it with me all the time. Besides, if what Abby was saying is correct, he's probably fast asleep and we shouldn't be disturbing him.”

“You don't understand. This is quite literally a life or death situation. I need you to go and get your key so that we can get into his flat. Please." Lester was trying very hard to remain calm, but the team recognised the look on his face too well. He would explode any minute unless people started doing what he asked.

Becker said he'd drive Emily back to her flat to go and fetch the spare key, whilst Abby and Connor remained with Lester. "Matt's really not going to be happy about us all turning up like this when he's ill," Connor said.

"What is this all about?" Abby asked.

"I'm not entirely sure. I was hoping Matt would be able to shed some light on it. I did intend to just tell him what I knew and let him digest it over the weekend so that we could discuss a course of action on Monday. However, the fact he's showing symptoms means the situation has become more urgent."

Abby and Connor exchanged looks. They couldn't help wondering if Lester had finally lost his marbles. It seemed a lot of fuss over a case of flu, but they'd humour him for the moment. Connor paced around, looking up at the window he thought was Matt's and pretended he was spying on him through imaginary binoculars. Lester was giving him unamused looks, and Abby tried to tell Connor to stop it, but he was oblivious. Finally, about ten minutes later, Emily and Becker returned with the key and she let them all inside.

Emily tried to make them stay in the lounge whilst she went to wake Matt, but Lester was having none of it and practically pushed her aside to get to Matt's bedroom. He shook Matt awake and waited whilst he blinked and came round.

"What the...? If this is meant to be some kind of surprise party, then I think someone has got their facts wrong," Matt said sleepily and somewhat annoyed. "It's not my birthday for another four months."

"I'm sorry, Matt," Abby said. "I did tell him that you were ill."

Lester shot Abby a glance that made her back away and then he sat down. Matt sat up and rubbed his eyes. "This had better be good, Lester."

"I went to see an old friend of yours today. Suzanne Griffiths."

"Suzy? How did..."

"She passed away. I'm sorry." Lester pulled out a pile of papers and files from his briefcase and placed them on the duvet in front of Matt. "She was asking for you before she died, but for security reasons they sent me to check out her story."

"I haven't seen her since we came through the anomaly. How did she die?"

"That's a very good question," Lester said. He indicated the files. "She's the sixth one of your... team to die within a month."

Matt grabbed the files and began flicking through them. He recognised the faces; people he'd spent many years training with but never really knew personally. He was beginning to understand why Lester had dragged everyone here and woke him up – he had the same symptoms as these people had had in the early stages of their illness and it looked like he could be the next victim. 

"Did Suzy give any clues about what this is?" Matt swallowed nervously and could feel his heart pounding in his chest. 

"The woman was dying," Lester said. "She wasn't making a lot of sense. All I got out of her was some ramblings about knowing what the consequences were but it didn't matter because not doing anything was far worse."

Matt knew what Suzy had been trying to say. It was as he'd feared long ago and he had no idea how to put it right. He glanced around the room and caught Connor's gaze. They exchanged a look of mutual understanding; Connor suspected the same thing as Matt.

Lester was barking orders to everyone in the room. Becker was being sent out to go and obtain medical reports and post mortem results on as many of the victims as possible. "And if you have to pull rank and use your Home Office credentials to get them, then do it.". Abby was being instructed to call Tom Reardon, the ARC's medic, and arrange to have Matt transfered to the medical wing at the ARC.

"Hang on!" Matt protested. "Dr. Reardon is an excellent doctor, but I don't need to be hospitalised yet. I'm better off staying here in my own bed. He can come visit me here if he needs to." Abby looked from Matt to Lester, not sure who to listen to. If Matt was seriously ill, then surely it was better if he was being looked after by Tom where he had access to state of the art medical equipment. She could also see Matt's point of view too though, he would be more comfortable at home in familiar surroundings. 

Lester rolled his eyes and was about to make some dry comment when Emily spoke up. "I'll stay with Matt and make sure he's eating properly and taking care of himself. If his condition seems to be getting worse then I'll call Dr. Reardon straight away." Matt smiled at her gratefully and Lester knew there was little point in arguing.

"Fine," he said. "I'll make sure Dr. Reardon visits regularly. He'll want to take blood samples and compare with the results from the other patients that Becker is going to obtain for us." He pinched the bridge of his nose then sighed. "Abby, you're in charge of the field team whilst Matt is indisposed and Becker is away."

"I can't!" Abby protested. 

Connor took her hand and squeezed it. "Yes you can," he whispered. 

"It should be you!"

"Abby. After what I did... I still have to prove myself trustworthy. People may have forgiven me but they won't forget." Connor glanced around the room, wondering what they would have thought if Lester had put him in charge instead of Abby. He turned to her again and smiled. "You're the boss."

"Good, that's settled then. Right. Until Becker returns with the medical notes on the other victims there isn't much else we can do today. I need to go and fill the Minister in on the situation." For a moment, there was a silence. Then Lester motioned for everyone to leave and one by one they filtered away, wishing Matt well and trying to put on brave faces. Lester knew what they were all thinking though because it was foremost in his mind too. The team were the best when it came to chasing dinosaurs and handling anomalies, but tracking down a cure for a mysterious illness from the future seemed so far beyond their capabilities.

Lester feared they were already too late for Matt.


	3. Chapter 3

It wasn't the first time Abby had seen Connor like this and she was certain it wouldn't be the last, but there was something odd about his behaviour on this particular occasion that concerned her.  
   
When he was lost in a thought or a new theory, he had a habit of switching out everything else.  Sometimes he'd be sat there for over an hour, completely oblivious to what was happening around him.  He did his best thinking in this state and she knew to just leave him to it because he generally snapped out of it and would be full of enthusiasm.  Often he would end up surrounded by sheets of paper with random drawings or equations on; small glimpses of what was going on inside his head.    
   
He'd been like this for over two hours now though, and Abby was worried.  She'd asked him three times if he wanted a sandwich or a coffee and he'd not even registered that she was there.  She also noted that there were no scribblings or notes around him.  Something was wrong.  
   
“Earth calling Connor!” she said loudly, shaking his shoulder.  Finally he looked up and acknowledged her.  “Are you OK?”  
   
“Sorry. I was just thinking about Matt.”  
   
“Me too. Poor guy.  I can't imagine what he's going through right now. It must be like being told you've got Cancer or something.”  Abby sat on the chair opposite Connor and took his hand in hers.  He was still thinking.  “At least he has more warning than those others that died.  Once we've got some medical notes to look at, maybe the doctors will be able to find a cure or at least something that will delay the illness to give them more time to work it out.”  
   
“They're wasting their time,” Connor said.  “This isn't a medical problem.”  Abby looked at him confused.  Matt was ill and those others had died from some kind of flu; it was a medical issue.  Connor was shaking his head and Abby stroked his cheek.  
   
“So what do you think it is then?” she asked softly, forcing him to look her in the eyes.  
   
“You'll think I'm crazy.”  
   
“No more so than usual,” Abby laughed.  Connor looked away and she recognised the look in his eyes.  He was blinking rapidly and his nose was wrinkling, a sign that he was trying not to cry.  “Try me,” she said, placing her hand on his cheek again and making him look at her.  
   
He sighed.  “First rule of time travel.  Don't interfere with the past.  Even a small change can have huge consequences.”  
   
“I know that.  Cutter drummed that into us constantly.  That's why he always insisted we tried to get the creatures back through the anomalies without harming them.”  
   
“There've been times when I've been tempted to go and change things.”  Connor looked down as if he was ashamed of what he was about to say.  Abby sat back.  This was news to her.  He'd never mentioned this before.  “When we saw those devices that Helen had that allowed you to open an anomaly at will.... when I finally worked out how to create an anomaly myself... I wanted to go back to that day Helen killed the Professor and warn him.”  
   
Abby closed her eyes.  There were times when she'd wondered if that was possible, especially recently.  The Professor had been almost like a father to her and Connor and she would have given anything to have him at their wedding.  The urge must have been even stronger for Connor since he'd been very close to Cutter.    
   
“I was stopped from doing it when I started to think about how different life would be if Cutter was still with us.  We might not have been stranded in the Cretaceous for all of that time and we'd probably still be pretending we don't fancy each other and making each other miserable.”  He managed a smile and Abby leaned over the table to kiss his cheek.  
   
“What's this got to do with Matt's illness though?”  
   
“Lester said that woman had been rambling about knowing the consequences but realising that not doing something was far worse.  What if she wasn't rambling?  Matt and his friends, they came here with the intention of changing their past to save millions of lives; the loss of twenty lives in the process was insignificant.”  
   
“Matt broke the first rule of time travel?” Abby said.  Connor nodded.   
   
“I think by changing their past, they've changed the circumstances of their births.  Maybe their parents don't meet now and they're being wiped from existence.”  It made perfect sense to Connor since he'd been thinking it through for the last two hours, but Abby was still confused.  “Do you remember when we watched 'Back to the Future' the other week?  Michael J Fox went back in time and interfered with his parents' first meeting.  His brother and sister were disappearing from the photo and then his hand was disappearing whilst he was on stage until his parents finally kissed and...”  
   
“But those others died, Connor. They didn’t just disappear.”  
   
“I know.  I just think…”  Connor banged his hand on the table in frustration.  He wasn’t sure what to think.  Maybe it was just some disease from the future that had killed those others, and given enough time a cure would be found.  Abby moved around towards him and allowed him to bury his head against her chest.    
   
“Maybe things will seem a bit clearer in the morning.  Becker should have the first of the notes on the other victims tomorrow, and Tom will have done some tests on Matt. Perhaps we should leave it to the doctors eh?”

Connor pulled away and stared at Abby.  “Matt's our friend, and he saved my life on the other side of that anomaly.  I can’t just sit back and wait!  We have to help him, Abby. I just don't know how.”  
   
Abby held Connor as tight as she could.  They’d lost close friends before, but this was different and it seemed considerably worse. Whilst Cutter and Stephen’s deaths had been sudden, they were going to have to watch Matt slowly slip away from them and it felt like there wasn’t a thing they could do about it.  
   
-o-  
   
Matt groaned as Dr Tom Reardon asked him to roll on to his side.  He was beginning to feel like a pin cushion from all of the injections and blood tests he’d had over the last 12 hours.  Tom was now doing a lumber puncture to take samples of fluid from around the spinal cord.  
   
“Are all of these tests necessary?” Matt asked.  “You must’ve taken several pints of blood from me already.”  
   
“Given how rapidly those other patients deteriorated, I want to check at regular intervals.  The slightest change could be significant in getting a proper diagnosis.  I know this is a bit uncomfortable, I’m sorry.”  
   
“No, I’m sorry.  Just not used to being ill, that’s all.”  Matt closed his eyes and tried not to think about the huge needle currently inserted into his spine.  Truth was, he’d never really been ill his entire life that he remembered.  Being prodded and poked by a doctor was alien to him, and being confined to a bed was frustrating.  He’d heard Lester issuing everyone with their jobs last night and had felt a pang of guilt.  He should be out there, chasing information and looking for results.  His friends were running around and probably losing sleep just because he and a few of his old colleagues were ill.    
   
He felt Tom pull the needle out and slide his t-shirt back down to cover him.  Rolling over he watched Tom label the glass vials up and put them into his case.  “Are your tests coming up with anything at all?”  
   
“If you were just an isolated case I’d be telling you to take some paracetamol and spend the next couple of days in bed.  On the surface you just seem to have a case of the flu but…  that’s what they thought about the others.”  
   
Emily poked her head tentatively round the bedroom door.  Tom waved her in and she smiled, pushing open the door and looking at Tom.  “I’m making some tea, would you like some?”  
   
“Not for me, thank you.  I need to get these back to the ARC for testing as soon as possible and Becker sent me a text message a few minutes ago to say he had the case histories for the first two deaths.” Tom patted his case.  “Though I’m sure Matt could use a good cup of tea.  Fluids and bed rest are probably the best thing for him at the moment.”  
   
“Of course, Doctor.”  
   
Emily went to see Tom out but he shook his head and said he knew the way and that she should stay and take care of Matt.  After he’d gone, Emily sat on the end of Matt’s bed.  “Is there anything I can get for you? Are you comfortable enough?”  
   
“I’m fine.”  
   
“Tea! Tom said you should have fluids.  I’ll go and make…”  
   
“Emily!” Matt felt something snap inside.  He hated this.  Deep down he had a feeling that this wasn’t just an illness and people fussing around him trying to make him feel better was no help at all.  He saw the look of shock on Emily’s face and realised he’d been too sharp.  It wasn’t her fault, she was just trying to do what she knew best.  “There is something you can do for me.”  
   
“Name it.”  
   
“Call Connor. Ask him to come over.  There’s something I want to discuss with him.”  As he watched Emily scuttle off obediently, he couldn’t help smiling.  Despite all of her efforts to be a modern day woman, she just couldn’t help herself sometimes.  Being a good little Victorian woman and doing what her man told her was ingrained into her and it would be a hard habit for her to break.  He could hear her talking to Connor on the phone and his mind drifted to the reasons he wanted to talk to Connor.   
   
Whilst Matt had been training for this mission, one of the main topics of discussion had been what would happen to them if they succeeded in stopping whoever interfered with the anomalies.  They knew they wouldn’t be able to return to their own timeline, but how could they remain in this one?  All sorts of theories had been bounced around but no-one could give a definite answer since there had never been a precedent for what they were doing.  Matt suspected that he was smack bang in the middle of finding out exactly what happened when you changed your own past and he wasn’t convinced that any kind of medical intervention was going to help him.  He also believed that if anyone would understand that fact it would be Connor.  
   
-o-  
   
   
An hour later, Connor was sitting on a chair at the side of Matt’s bed and setting up his laptop to connect to Matt’s wifi.  As he did so, Connor was also talking to Jess on his mobile phone asking her to send him all of the information that Becker had got already.  Matt noted that Connor seemed tired with huge dark circles under his eyes.  
   
“You look almost as rough as I feel,” Matt said.    
   
“Difficult night,” Connor replied, trying not to make eye contact.  “I kept Abby awake half the night because I was so restless, then I decided to go downstairs so that I wouldn’t disturb her any more.” He finally looked up and caught the look of amusement in Matt’s eyes.  
   
“Bet that went down well?”  
   
“She ended up following me and we sat on the sofa talking about stuff.”  Connor felt his cheeks flush and he was glad when his computer sprang into life and he could see his emails appearing on the screen.  “This news has shocked us as much as it has you, Matt.  Abby thinks we should let the doctors do their thing and that the best thing we can do is take care of the ARC whilst you’re ill and be there for you.”  
   
“But you think differently?”  
   
“You’re dying…” Connor swallowed and chewed on his bottom lips.  The words stuck in his throat as it hit him just how bad this really was. “You’re seriously ill and I’m not a doctor. What do I know?  Perhaps Abby’s right.”  
   
Matt took a deep breath.  “Imagine living in my version of the world.  People didn’t have children by choice – who would consciously choose to bring up a baby in that kind of environment?  Life was incredibly hard and there would always be someone dying or taking ill.  You tried to become hardened to it so that it wouldn’t hurt any more, and it was easier to just strike out on your own and not get attached to anyone.”  
   
“It worked the majority of the time, but sometimes it would just all be too much.  People reached out for comfort and found it in the arms of another, often a stranger who happened to be there.  Most of the children born in my time were the result of such a union and many never knew their fathers.  Some of those others that came with me were like that. Others, like me, did know their parents to a certain extent but had lost one or both of them at an early age.”  Matt paused and looked at Connor, wondering if he understood where he was going with all of this.   
   
“Now imagine the new world,” Matt continued.  “People can be with the ones they want to be with.  Those desperate moments of just needing to be held by anyone are gone.”  
   
“And those babies are not born,” Connor said simply.  “Your colleagues… you…  you won’t exist.  You don’t exist any more.”  
   
“That’s my theory too.”  Matt smiled.  He knew he could rely on Connor to understand.  “Sooner or later, all 20 of us will cease to exist in this timeline.”  
   
“So it’s inevitable? There’s nothing we can do?”  Connor blinked at his computer screen.  The email from Jess was flashing up as “important” but it seemed pointless even looking at it now.  
   
“Apart from making sure my parents do actually get together.. but that wouldn’t be possible.”  
   
Connor’s eyes brightened.  Suddenly he felt positive.  There was something he could do.  “Of course it’s possible, Matt! We just find out where they are now and…”  
   
Matt was shaking his head.  “I know my father’s name but my mother… I just know she was called Amy.  I have no idea what her maiden name was and dad never talked about it.”  
   
Connor began to frantically type, looking for a way to hack into the “birth, marriages and deaths” database.  He could feel that familiar rush he got when he was close to making a big discovery.  He could help Matt after all.  “Your dad’s name would be a start.  We’ll find him and then start looking for someone he knows called Amy.”  
   
“It’s not quite that straight forward, Connor,” Matt said softly and calmly.  “I’m from 55 years into your future.  My parents aren’t born yet.  It’s their parents we need to put together, and since I know absolutely nothing about them…”  He watched the glint in Connor’s eyes fade, and along with it the tiny glimmer of hope he’d had disappeared.    
   
“I’m sorry,” Connor said finally after some minutes of silence.  
   
“Don’t be, mate.”  
   
“How can you be so calm?” Connor choked on the tears he’d stopped fighting back.    
   
“I’ve lived with the possibility of this happening for most of my life.  We just have to make the most of the time that I have left.  At least I have that; those others didn’t.”  He placed a comforting hand on Connor’s shoulder and was not surprised when he felt him slump against his chest.   Matt took a deep breath and tried to find words that might comfort Connor but nothing felt appropriate.  He simply allowed him to cry whilst he rested his arm around his shoulder.  Matt blinked and realised he was beginning to shed tears too.    
   
He wasn’t grieving for himself; there was no point.  He was grieving for those people, like Connor, that he’d come to consider as close friends that he’d have to leave behind when he died.


	4. Chapter 4

The computer flashed a message up, informing Matt that one of the emails he’d sent barely five minutes ago had been read.  For the last three hours, he'd been recording video messages for all of his friends, words that he hoped might be of some comfort to them. He waited for the explosion, knowing Abby and Connor were only in the next room.    
   
The bedroom door was flung open and Abby stood there, hand on hip in a defiant, angry stance.  “Your email,” she said, the wobble in her voice betraying her true feelings. “It said ‘to be read after my death’. You’re giving up?  I thought you were stronger than that?”  
   
“I’m not giving up, Abby,” he replied softly.  “There’s no cure for what’s happening to me, so I thought I’d make the most of the opportunity I have to record some words for each of you that I thought might help you to make sense of this.”  He indicated for her to come and sit down by the bed on one of the many chairs his various visitors had used.  He reached out and grasped Abby’s hand.  “I understand your frustration, but I’ve accepted that my time here is up and you guys have to do the same.”  
   
“I can’t!”  Abby’s face crumpled for a moment as she fought back her tears and then she regained her composure.  “Tom’s analysing all of the test results.  If anyone can find a cure for you, it’ll be him.”  
   
Matt squeezed her hand.  “I’ve always known that something like this could happen to me.  I’ve lived with the fact for most of my life.  You have to look at my death as being the indicator that we really did stop the anomaly from destroying the planet.  It’s a positive thing that I’m dying.”  
   
“It doesn’t feel like it.”  Abby felt a stray tear fall down her cheek and she angrily wiped it away.  “When I was helping you to find out what Connor and Burton were doing, you never once mentioned that I was also signing your death certificate.”  
   
“Would it have changed anything if you’d known?  Would you have let them carry on with New Dawn and kill millions of people if it meant I survived?””  
   
Abby shook her head.  “You’re a brave man.”  
   
“Or a foolish one, depending on how you look at it.  We all knew what we were potentially signing ourselves up for.”  
   
Abby pulled her hand away from Matt’s and looked down at her feet.  “It doesn’t feel right just sitting around and watching you… I need to be doing something.  We all do.  We happen to care about you, Matt.”  
   
“I know.”  Matt closed his eyes.  This was exactly why they’d been warned off forming any kind of relationships here.  He’d thought it would be easy, but he hadn’t bargained on being placed amongst such great people.  He’d stopped fighting against Emily fussing over him and he just lay in silence as Dr Reardon took more blood samples from him.  It was their way of coping, their way of feeling useful.  Becker had only visited twice and it was clear that he wasn’t coping either. Yesterday he had been trying hard to be upbeat as he told Matt about his travels to get the medical notes on the other victims, but his red, puffy eyes told Matt he was anything but upbeat. 

Connor had followed Abby from the lounge, but had remained in the doorway watching and listening. He knew Abby had formed a strong friendship with Matt and it was breaking his heart to see her right now. The last couple of days had been hell. He felt so helpless as he watched the others throwing themselves into some task or another. “Abby's right,” he finally said. Matt looked up. “We need to help you. We want to help you!”

“Have you shared our discussion with Abby?” 

Connor shook his head. “Not really. Abby knows about my theory but...”

“You think there's something in it?” Abby said to Matt. 

“I don't know, and as I said to him, even if there was there's nothing we can do about it since I don't know anything about my family. That was a deliberate choice my father and I made when we knew we were coming here. It made things easier if we didn't have the added complication of my grandparents being around.”

Connor moved over and stood behind Abby, his hand on her shoulder and looking down at Matt. “Did you leave everything behind? Surely you bought some personal stuff with you?”

“My father may have. It was too risky for me to have anything here that would show I wasn't from this time.”

“Then maybe there is some hope, Matt. Please, you have to let me n' Abby at least try.”

Matt sighed. He didn't have anything to lose. Scribbling the address of the nursing home where his father had spent the last weeks of his life onto a piece of paper, he explained that all he knew was that anything his father had brought with him would be in storage still since he'd not had chance to go and claim it.

Abby took the paper from him and folded it, carefully pushing it into her pocket as she stole a glance at Connor. She could see something in his eyes that made her feel more positive than she had been in a while. She had no doubt in Connor's abilities at all. He would find Matt's grandparents. 

As they were getting ready to leave, the door opened and Lester stood in the entrance with Dr Reardon at his side.  Both looked serious and Abby sensed something was terribly wrong. She grasped Matt's hand and waited for Lester to speak. Connor swallowed nervously.  
   
“We’ve just heard about another death,” Lester said.  “A female, based in South London.  Becker’s on his way to go and find out as much as he can.”  
   
Tom cleared his throat.  “She was only ill for ten days, Matt.  Her illness developed much quicker than the others.  This just got a whole lot more serious.  You’re on day five already and your condition is worsening by the hour.  I’m not taking no for an answer now.  You’re coming into the infirmary at the ARC where we can properly monitor you around the clock.”  
   
Abby looked at Matt.  She knew this wasn’t what he wanted; he’d asked to be allowed to die in his own home surrounded by his friends.  Did she argue with Tom and Lester on his behalf or let them take him into their care?  What if there was a cure for this and it could be found by proper monitoring?  The look on Matt’s face seemed one of resignation, and as Tom began making phonecalls to arrange for transport he was remaining silent.  
   
Matt allowed himself to be placed onto a wheeled stretcher.  His fight was gone; the painkillers were no longer touching his pain and even the short walk to the bathroom was leaving him exhausted and dripping with sweat.  Abby followed them out, saying she would ask Emily to find him some toiletries and changes of clothing and then she and Connor stood watching at the window as he was wheeled into the back of a military ambulance. They were rapidly running out of time and the task they'd just set themselves had taken on a new sense of urgency.  
   
-o-  
   
“So what should we be looking for?” Connor asked, pulling out the first of several storage boxes.  There were stacks of folders and books, covered in a fine layer of dust and it made his nose tingle.  
   
“We need to know who Gideon’s parents are,” Abby said.  “There must be some kind of birth certificate here.”  She pulled out another box of papers and books.  This was going to take some time.  
   
“Birth certificate… OK.  What about Matt’s mother? There’s even less about her.  Even if we do track down Gideon’s parents and put them together, it’s pointless if his mother’s parents aren’t together.”  
   
“I’ll work on that one,” Abby replied.  She blew some dust off the pile of papers she had and sat herself down on the floor.  It felt good to finally be doing something that might help Matt, even if she wasn’t entirely convinced of Connor’s theory.  For the next hour, they both remained silent, dismissing most of the papers they came across as useless.  There was no mention of anyone called Amy anywhere, and Connor seemed to be drawing similar blanks.  
   
“Something doesn’t feel right,” Connor said at last.  “Matt’s from the future, yeah? You’d think that important stuff like birth and marriage certificates would be computerised by then.”  
   
“Of course!” Abby stood up.  “We’re looking in the wrong places.”  
   
“No computer here though,” Connor said, looking around.  “Not even a pile of CD’s or USB memory sticks.”  
   
Suddenly it fell into place.  Abby knew how they stored data in Matt’s time, she’d seen him use a device the day that he’d shown her what his future was like.  He’d worn a chip on a band around his wrist like a watch.  Maybe Gideon did too.  She rummaged around the boxes and found a small wooden box.  Inside was a wedding ring and a silver watch.  Just as Abby had hoped, there was what appeared to be a computer chip fastened to the back and she pulled it off.  “Bingo!”  
   
Connor came over and looked at it curiously.  When Abby twisted it and placed it on the table, it flickered into life and a 3D screen appeared.  “Woah! Now that’s more like what I expected to see!”  Connor grinned from ear to ear, marvelling at the sight of this glimpse of technology yet to come.  “How did you know what to look for?”  
   
“I saw Matt’s once.  I’m willing to bet all of Gideon and Matt’s personal stuff is on here.”  
   
Once Connor worked out the controls for the device, he was soon whizzing through dozens of files and it wasn’t long before he found Gideon’s birth certificate.  “Gideon was born in 2014, so his parents are at least grown ups.  Should make tracking them down here easier, they’ll have national insurance records, tax records…”  
   
Abby stood next to Connor, reading the screen in front of them.  It was fascinating, reading about an event yet to happen and she wondered how Matt had managed to not even take a sneaky peek at the information.    
   
Gideon’s father, Samuel Anderson, was listed as a Botanist, working for the government. The absence of any other details made Connor curious.  Clearly the work that Samuel was doing was for something that required secrecy or anonymity, much like their own work.  He liked him already, though it would make finding him that much more difficult.     
   
The mother, Marie Leaver, was a doctor working in infectious diseases at a large hospital in the south.  Connor scratched his head and frowned.  “What’s wrong?” Abby said.  “Finding a doctor should be pretty easy.”  
   
“Easier than you think,” Connor said. “Her name’s familiar, but I don’t know why.”  
   
Abby tried to think if she knew the name too.  It didn’t ring any bells with her.  The only doctor she knew was Tom, and as far as she knew he was the only doctor Connor knew too.    
   
“The fifth victim!” Connor suddenly said.  “The one before Matt’s friend. He was treated by a Dr Leaver.  Becker said she was very helpful and was asking lots of questions, though she wanted to know why the Home Office were interested in the deaths and not the Department of Health.”  
   
Abby remembered her now.  Becker had been convinced she was following him and he had circled around and doubled back on himself to try and lose her.  It wouldn’t be hard to get her where they needed her to be. All they had to do was tell her they needed her help with the medical investigation and she’d be here like a shot.   Connor was already doing searches for Samuel Anderson, checking universities first and then moving on to establishments that specialised in botanical research.   Abby knew it wouldn’t take him long to find him, so she decided to make contact with Marie.  
   
-o-  
   
“Do we tell Matt that she’s his grandmother?” Abby whispered as she watched Tom Reardon show Marie around the ARCs infirmary.    
   
“Don’t think that’s a good idea,” Connor whispered back.  “It would freak both of them out, and could cause all kinds of further problems.”  Abby agreed and smiled to herself when Tom introduced Marie to Matt.  It would be her’s and Connor’s secret and as far as anyone else was concerned Dr Leaver was just here to try and help Tom find a cure for Matt since she'd been involved in treating one of the other victims.    
   
There was still a tinge of sadness hanging in the air though, despite this new development.  Matt was getting weaker, sleeping most of the time and barely able to hold a conversation when he was awake.  There wasn’t much time left; they still hadn’t been able to find Samuel Anderson and they hadn’t even begun to look for more information about Matt’s mother and her parents.   Emily was at Matt’s side constantly now, leaving him only to go and freshen herself up and to get food.   His death was going to hit her hardest.   
   
The anomaly call came at the right time; a much needed distraction for all of them. It felt strange being out in the field without Matt’s guidance, and even stranger when Becker turned to her and asked what she wanted him to do.  She wasn’t a natural team leader and it didn’t sit right with her, but Lester had insisted that she would remain in charge for the moment.    
   
Fortunately, the call was fairly routine. The anomaly had opened up outside of town in a non-residential area and the creatures that lumbered through were what Connor called Paraceratheriums , harmless herbiviores just confused about finding themselves in unfamiliar surroundings.  Becker and his men had the herd rounded up pretty quickly and once Connor had locked the anomaly, it was just a matter of posting a couple of soldiers there until it closed of its own accord.  
   
Just as the team were clearing away and packing their EMDs into the boot of Becker’s vehicle, Abby’s mobile rang.   She pulled it out of her pocket and read the caller name. “It’s Tom Reardon,” she said.  The others all fell silent as she answered the call, their breaths held and hearts pounding.  The expression on Abby’s face left no doubt.  It was not good news.  Connor moved to her side and she silently reached for the reassurance of his hand whilst listening to whatever Tom was telling her.  She ended the call with “We’ll all be there as soon as we can.”  
   
The team looked at her, waiting for her to speak.  Abby took a deep breath and tried to gather her strength.  She was team leader and had to be strong, even though what she was about to say would devastate them all.  “Matt’s in a coma.  Tom doesn’t think he has long left, hours at the most.”  
 


	5. Chapter 5

The mood was sombre as the last of the equipment was packed away and they began to get into the vehicles ready for the short drive back to the ARC.  No-one spoke, each lost in their own thoughts.  Could they have saved Matt’s life if they’d done more or acted quicker?  Abby could already see Becker blaming himself because that’s just what Becker did.  He carried the weight of Sarah’s death around his neck the whole time, and now he would be adding Matt’s to it.  There would be little anyone could say to him that would change that, not even the video message that would still be sitting in his email inbox.  
   
“I should stay and make sure the area is clear,” Abby said.    
   
“I’ll help,” Connor said.  
   
“Matt’s dying! You may not get a chance to say your goodbyes if you don’t go now.”    
   
“We’ll both do what we have to do here.  It’ll be done quicker with the two of us and then we’ll both get back to the ARC in time to …” Connor stopped.  He couldn’t bring himself to say it.  This wasn’t happening.  
   
Abby nodded for Becker to leave them, and told him to tell Matt to hang in there.  Becker acknowledged the request silently and then left with the rest of the team with a screech of tires.  After they’d gone, Connor began to pace around by the anomaly site, looking for signs of any creatures that had been missed.  He couldn’t make eye contact with Abby, knowing he’d see the pain in her eyes and that it would tear him apart too.  If only they had more time.  He was certain he was right about what was happening to Matt, and Matt had been too.  They were so close to a solution; Matt’s grandmother was already at the ARC and probably tending to him, his grandfather was probably only a computer click away and yet that was too far without more time.  Then, even if they did locate Samuel Anderson and get him to the ARC to meet Marie, there was still the problem of the grandparents on his mother's side of the family.    
   
Abby was also avoiding Connor’s gaze.  She was talking to the two soldiers that Becker had stationed at the locking device and ensuring they knew how to operate it and what to do if it failed.  She needed these few minutes to prepare herself for what she was going to find when she got back to the ARC.  She wished she’d listened to Connor on that first night instead of just dismissing his thoughts and concentrating on the conventional theory that medicine would help Matt.  
   
She approached the anomaly and noticed some pieces of shrubbery scattered on the ground.  She knelt down to examine them and realised they must have been dragged through by the creatures as they didn’t match anything else growing in the surrounding area.  Instinctively, she plucked off a few pieces to put away in her bag, thinking about the joint project proposal she and Matt had put together that hadn’t been presented yet and probably wouldn’t ever see the light of day now.    
   
After asking the soldiers to unlock the anomaly, she and Connor pushed the remaining greenery back through and then locked the anomaly again.  She then took Connor’s hand and finally made eye contact with him.  
   
“I think we’re done here,” she said softly.  “We need to go.  At least we have the chance to say goodbye to Matt, we didn’t with the others.  Maybe it will help make it a bit easier?”  
   
As they turned to get into Connor’s car, there was a loud crack and a yell of pain.  Abby’s hand went straight to her pocket to reach for her EMD, but then she remembered Becker had taken them all back with him.  Connor puffed out his chest and moved forward, motioning for Abby to stay behind him as he crept towards where the sound had come from.  Tumbling out of the bushes was a man, cursing himself and trying to detangle from the thorns and vines.  
   
“Who the hell are you?” Connor demanded to know.  “How long have you been spying on us?”  
   
The man sat up the best he could and raised both his hands in the air. “I’m sorry.  I’ve been watching those things ever since that day when the dinosaurs all came through.”  Connor and Abby exchanged looks of horror. So much for the tight security Becker’s men were supposed to have set up.  “It’s not what you think.  Those creatures scare me and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near them if it wasn’t for my research.”  
   
“Research?” Connor exploded and tried to haul the man to his feet.  His mind was spinning with visions of New Dawn all over again and the thought terrified him.  
   
“Connor, let the man speak.”  Abby intervened, trying to calm Connor down.  He released the man reluctantly and waited for him to speak.  When they got a better look at him, he seemed oddly familiar.  It could be a slightly older, unkempt version of Matt standing there.  
   
“My name’s Sam Anderson.  I work for the Hancock Foundation, doing research into rare and endangered plants.  When I saw those … things… a few months ago, I wondered if there would be some way of bringing back plant life from prehistoric eras to help save the species that are dying out.”  
   
Abby felt her heart leap.  There was still hope.  It was one hell of a long shot and a huge risk – taking a civilian into the ARC was unheard of until recently, yet they’d allowed Dr Leaver in because of her connection to Matt.  She looked at Connor, he was thinking the same as her.    
   
“Sam.  We do research too.  I think you might be interested in what we do.” Abby said, flashing him her government ID badge.  “Do you have a couple of hours? We can take you there now.”  
   
Sam nodded enthusiastically and moments later was getting into the back of Connor’s car.  
   
-o-  
   
Emily was sat on the edge of Matt’s bed, his hand held between both of hers and pressed against her lips.  She was making no effort to hide her tears from the rest of the gathered team.  Jess had a comforting arm around Emily’s shoulders, trying her best to keep her composure but failing, whilst Becker stood behind the both of them.  He was holding it together, but only just.

Lester was keeping a respectful distance in the corner of the room and doing his best to maintain a professional composure. He had witnessed the team all rallying together before, and sometimes he envied them. Other times he simply looked on like a proud, or occasionally disapproving, father. Losing another member of the team just when things seemed to finally be going smoothly was going to be a devastating blow to everyone. Somehow he would have to remain distant in order to keep them from completely falling apart.  
   
Tom Reardon turned to Marie and asked if there was anything else they could do.  She shook her head.  “Maybe it’s just best to let him spend his remaining moments with his friends.”  Tom nodded, and after doing one final check on the IV line that was attached to Matt’s wrist he moved away.  Marie turned to follow him, again lamenting the fact that another perfectly healthy man under her care was about to die.    
   
“Are we too late?” Connor burst in through the door, holding Abby’s hand and practically dragging her into the room.  
   
“No,” Lester said simply.    
   
Connor and Abby ran to Matt’s side, Connor pushing Abby forward and circling his arm around her waist.  They forgot for a moment that they had someone else with them, and Sam hovered in the doorway, not sure what he should do.  He cleared his throat and Connor glanced back.  “Tom, this is Sam.  We met him out at the anomaly just now.  I’ll explain all later, but can you take him and Marie up to mine and Abby’s office and make them some coffee?”  
   
Tom smiled and nodded, ushering the two guests out of the room.  Connor glanced at Matt, hoping that the fact that two of his grandparents had just met was enough to save him.  It wasn’t.  If anything, the heart monitor seemed to be beeping less frequently.  Matt was slipping away.    
   
Emily let out an anguished sob that cut through everyone’s hearts.  Even Becker was no longer able to contain his emotions and a tear began to fall down his cheek.  Abby couldn’t look at Matt, it was too much for her, so she turned to Connor and buried her face against his chest, soaking his t-shirt with her tears.  Connor stroked her back and folded his arms around her, feeling her grief overwhelm her.  He would stay strong for once, take care of Abby and hold her as long as she needed him to.  He would take her home and hold her through the night and do what he could to ease the pain.  
   
“Matt?”  Emily’s voice sounded strange.  She leaned forward and everyone looked up.  Matt’s eyes were open and he was looking around the room, trying to focus. “Matt?.... someone call Dr Reardon!”  
   
Lester disappeared as Matt moved his head and the trace of a smile spread across his face.  The heart monitor beeped with a strong steady pulse and the room was filled with  a new hope.  
   
Tom was at the bedside almost immediately and everyone moved aside to allow him to examine Matt.  He shone a light in his eyes and Matt squinted, trying to turn his face away.  “Sorry,” Tom smiled.  “How are you feeling?”  
   
“Weird,” Matt replied.    
   
Emily kissed Matt’s cheek and wiped her tears from her face.  “We thought we’d lost you!”  
   
“Don’t get rid of me that easily,” Matt breathed, swallowing and trying to lick his dry, cracked lips.  Emily fell onto his chest, wanting to hug him and whispering that it was a miracle.  Tom allowed her to remain for a moment, then said that he needed to do more checks to make sure Matt was OK. She nodded and moved away, smiling at the doctor and then at the gathered friends.  
   
They waited as Tom took Matt’s temperature and checked the readings on the heart monitor.  When he said that there was no sign of fever, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.  It seemed Matt was out of danger, at least for the time being.  Each wished Matt well and then left to go about their usual business, wondering what had suddenly brought Matt back from the brink of death.  Perhaps it was the cocktail of drugs that Tom had been administering or maybe just the sheer strength of the love everyone had for Matt that he’d clung on to and used to drag himself back.  They’d never really know for certain, but it didn’t matter now if he was getting better.  
   
Abby and Connor left the ARC in silence, holding hands.  Was is a pure coincidence that Matt suddenly recovered only minutes after they’d introduced Samuel and Marie to each other, or had Connor been right from the start?  It seemed that Amy’s parents must already be together somewhere, and sometime in the next 30 years their daughter would meet Samuel and Marie’s son.  It would be nice to see how that panned out, just out of a romantic curiosity more than anything.  
   
The important thing was, Matt was getting better and he wasn’t about to be wiped from existence.   
   
##  
   
(two months later)  
   
Matt hesitated for a moment at the door, knowing that there would likely be chaos on the other side.  He couldn’t put this off though, he at least owed her this after everything she and Connor had done to save his life.  He wouldn’t be standing here now if it wasn’t for their efforts and they at least deserved a little pay back.  He knew just how lucky he’d been.  There'd been two further deaths that they were aware of, bringing the total to nine.  They never knew what happened to the other ten, but chances were they’d either already died or they were also like Matt and their grandparents and parents were together in this new world.  
   
It had only taken him three days to get back up to full strength.  His miraculous recovery was as much a mystery to the doctors as the illness itself had been, but when Abby introduced him to the new lab assistant she'd taken on to help with the joint menagerie and botanical research it all fell into place.  It didn’t take a genius to work out who Sam Anderson was; the guy had several mannerisms that Gideon had had. Matt had so many questions, but held back from asking them.  Sam shouldn’t know too much about his future, and it would probably send him running for the hills if anyone suggested that the doctor he’d just started dating was the mother of his children.  Better to leave those kind of things to fate.  
   
What had intrigued him though was his mother’s parents.  Abby and Connor had told him that they hadn’t had time to even start looking for their details, and when Matt had recovered there seemed no point.   Matt was curious to know who they were though and decided he’d look for them.  Maybe he’d even go and visit, just once.  Everyone should know something about their heritage.  He’d expected it to be a long search and had prepared to put in many hours.  He’d even thought about asking Connor or Jess for help with browsing the birth and marriage registers since he didn’t have a clue where to start, but in the end, the search was over as soon as it had begun. That was why he was now stood on Abby's doorstep.  
   
Jess answered the door.  She was dressed in her red wine coloured bridesmaid dress but shoeless.  “Matt? What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at the church doing whatever it is that ushers do?”  
   
“I have plenty of time, Jess.  I just wanted to have a word with Abby before the whirlwind of the day carries her off.  Can I come in?”  
   
“Of course.  I’ll call her, she’s just having her veil fixed into her hair.”  Jess motioned for Matt to come in and he stood waiting nervously in the hallway.  Moments later, Abby appeared.  He gasped.  She looked amazing! Head to toe in ivory silk, she seemed to shimmer as she moved.  Her face was glowing and he didn’t think he’d ever seen anyone look happier.    
   
“I’m sorry to call around only hours before your wedding, but this couldn’t wait.  I need you to be able to take this in whilst your mind is still relatively clear.”  He pulled out a small box and felt his cheeks burn.  “Is there somewhere private that we can talk?”  
   
Abby led him through to Connor’s study, the only room in the flat that wasn’t filled with something to do with the wedding.  “This sounds serious. Is everything OK?”  
   
“Oh, everything is fine,” Matt smiled.  “This is for you and Connor.”  He handed her the box and he watched nervously as she opened it.  She pulled out the contents; a gold wedding band on a leather cord.  It was incredibly familiar.  
   
“Is this Connor’s? How did you…”  Abby was confused.  It couldn’t be Connor’s.  They’d had it altered to fit her, and right now it should be in Becker’s possession ready to be handed to the vicar at the appropriate point in the service.    
   
“It was amongst my father’s possessions,” Matt began. “It belonged to my mother, Amy.”  He reached into the pocket of his suit jacket and found two pieces of paper which he handed to Abby.  “I’d been within a whisker of dying and suddenly had a second chance at life.  I decided to find out where I’d come from and who my mother was since she died when I was only a small child.  I printed these out from the files my father had on his personal computer chip.”  
   
Abby unfolded the first piece of paper.  It was a copy of a marriage certificate.  As she read it, she gasped and then looked at Matt. “Is this real?” she said quietly.    
   
Matt nodded.  “My mother was called Amelia Temple.”  They exchanged looks as Abby began to realise the implications of what Matt was telling her.  It was crazy and yet…  This explained why Matt had recovered after only putting Gideon’s parents together; Amy’s parents were already a couple.    
   
“You should look at the other piece of paper too,” Matt said.  He watched as she unfolded it.  “Amelia’s parents, Connor James Temple and Abigail Sarah Temple… just in case there was any doubt.”  Matt laughed, then waited as the final piece of the tale clicked into place.  
   
“Amelia’s birth date… it’s only seven months away!”  
   
“Yeah.  Which means you’re already pregnant. Congratulations!”   
   
Abby blinked at the certificate, almost disbelieving what she was seeing.  She did suspect that she could be pregnant, but the last few weeks had been so hectic with getting the project up and running and wedding preparations she’d pushed the thought to one side and decided to leave seeing Tom about it until after the wedding.   She pressed the ring back into Matt’s hand and folded his fingers around it.  “It’s yours,” she said.  “We must have given it to Amy, and now it belongs to you.”  
   
Matt pulled the cord over his head and let the ring hang down his neck, hidden behind his shirt.  He’d always longed for something that he could connect to the mother he'd never known, and now he not only had something that belonged to her, he had discovered family.  It was an odd feeling, knowing that the woman in front of him was his own flesh and blood and that his mother was alive and he’d be able to get to know her.  
   
He heard Jess calling from the next room and he realised he had already taken too much of Abby’s time.  In less than three hours she would be Mrs Temple, and he had to leave her to get ready for the biggest day of her life.  He muttered a hurried goodbye and left, but before he’d got to the gate at the bottom of the path, Abby was calling him back.  
   
“Come and give your Gran a hug on her wedding day!” she laughed.  It sounded so ridiculous but he couldn’t help smiling back.  He practically ran back up the path and folded his arms around Abby.  It didn’t feel ridiculous at all.    
   
Today, a new chapter was beginning, and for once it was for happy reasons.


End file.
